Shama Mohamed, the national spokesperson of the Congress, has questioned the lack of acknowledgement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of Chinese activity along the Ladakh-Aladakh Corridor near Ladakh despite General Charles A Flynn, commander of US Army Pacific, saying it is “eye-opening and alarming.”.
Chinese activity near Ladakh is alarming, a top US general says. China’s territorial aggression against India is alarming the world, but our own PM has yet to acknowledge China has taken our land!” Mohamed tweeted.
Flynn, who is on a visit to India, said, “The (Chinese) activity level is eye-opening. Some of the infrastructure being created in the PLA’s Western Theatre Command is alarming. One has to ask the question ‘why’, and get a response as to what are their intentions.”
Flynn was responding to a question on the overall situation in the Ladakh theatre while interacting with a small group of journalists.
There were reports that a Chinese bridge was being constructed across the Pangong Lake, a key infrastructure build-up that has profound military implications for the Indian Army.
Flynn’s statement comes days after India and China didn’t make much headway in another round of diplomatic talks on the standoff at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), agreeing only to continue discussions on outstanding issues and to convene the next meeting of senior military commanders at an early date.
The disengagement and de-escalation process between India and China has been deadlocked since the two sides pulled back frontline troops from the north and south banks of Pangong Lake in February last year and from Gogra in August 2021. There has been no forward movement on disengagement at key friction points suAs far as disengagement at key friction points like Hot Springs and Depsang is concerned, there has been no progress. “should continue the discussions through diplomatic and military channels to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC at the earliest so as to create conditions for the restoration of normalcy in bilateral relations”, the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
Flynn also discussed ways to increase military cooperation with General Manoj Pande of the Indian Army and Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari of the Indian Air Force on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) tweeted that bilateral defence cooperation and issues of mutual interest were discussed.
Flynn also met with Lieutenant General BS Raju, Vice Chief of Army Staff.
There was a discussion about various topics of mutual interest between the two officers.
General Flynn’s visit to India comes amid a geopolitical tumult triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The two governments discussed ways to expand their military cooperation during General Flynn’s meetings in Delhi.
Visit epaper.hindustantimes.com to read the HT ePaper
